Punishment • How punishment can and should be used is of interest in the criminal justice system, child-rearing, treatment of people with developmental disabilities, etc. • Punishment can be a highly effective way to modify behavior, in some cases after only 1 or 2 trials – but under other circumstances, it may not be effective at all

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Experimental Analysis of Punishment • Punishment procedure: make a target response  aversive stimulus presented  response should decrease • Target response should be one that is likely to occur – In therapeutic situations, the target response is something harmful or maladaptive (e.g., self injury) – In experiments, the target response is first rewarded with positive reinforcement to make it a likely response, then punished

Experimental Analysis of Punishment • Types of Aversive Stimuli Used in Experiments – Shock, sudden burst of air, loud noise, sour taste, a cue associated with something aversive (CS) – Time out – Loss of opportunity to obtain positive reinforcement – Overcorrection – required to correct mistake and do even more to make up for it (e.g., for teasing a younger sibling, a child has to apologize and write “I will not tease my sister” 100x) – Point loss – chance to gain points when responding to one stimulus; will lose points if you respond to another

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Experimental Analysis of Punishment • Effective punishment = response is suppressed • Response suppression depends on features of aversive stimuli – More intense and longer-lasting aversive stimuli are more effective in suppressing responses over time – Continued use of less intense aversive stimuli can lead to habituation to punishment – responding recovers

Experimental Analysis of Punishment • Response suppression depends on prior experience with the aversive stimuli – Initial exposure to low intensity punishment (mildly aversive stimulus) builds resistance to more intense punishment later – target behavior may continue – Initial exposure to a high intensity punishment increases effects of later punishment with a mildly aversive stimulus – response is suppressed • Mildly aversive stimuli can be effective after experience with more intense aversive stimuli in punishment • E.g., knowing that driving drunk may lead to spending a night in jail may effectively suppress that behavior if the person had been in jail before for a longer period of time

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